Goblin Lives Matter [EDH]

[Oversoul]

My deck from the West Coast Commander League yesterday. This was deliberately constructed to accrue some points for the Modern Horizons themes of this month in the league, and was badly rushed due to time constraints. It needs work, but I might use it as an initial template for a more robust deck. As for its performance in the league, it felt underpowered, but did its job. I got me some points...

Commander:
1x Pashalik Mons

1x Braid of Fire
1x Brimstone Volley
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Dynacharge
1x Faithless Looting
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Fireblast
1x Foundry Street Denizen
1x Frenzied Goblin
1x Frostwalk Bastion
1x Gamble
1x Gauntlet of Might
1x Goblin Burrows
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Chainwhirler
1x Goblin Chieftain
1x Goblin General
1x Goblin Grenade
1x Goblin Instigator
1x Goblin King
1x Goblin Lackey
1x Goblin Matron
1x Goblin Piledriver
1x Goblin Recruiter
1x Goblin Ringleader
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
1x Goblin Sledder
1x Goblin Trashmaster
1x Goblin War Party
1x Goblin Warchief
1x Goblin Wardriver
1x Goblin Wizard
1x Imperial Recruiter
1x Intimidator Initiate
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Krenko's Command
1x Krenko, Mob Boss
1x Legion Loyalist
1x Lightning Bolt
1x Lightning Crafter
1x Magmatic Sinkhole
1x Mana Echoes
1x Mizzium Mortars
1x Mogg Raider
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x Moggcatcher
1x Mutavault
1x Obelisk of Urd
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Pyrokinesis
1x Reckless Bushwhacker
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Scrying Sheets
1x Shattering Pulse
1x Skirk Drill Sergeant
1x Skred
1x Skullclamp
27x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Sol Ring
1x Stoke the Flames
1x Strip Mine
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Taurean Mauler
1x Throes of Chaos
1x Tin Street Dodger
1x Vandalblast
1x Warren Instigator
2x Wastes
1x Weapon Surge
1x Wheel of Fortune

 

[Oversoul]

I am bringing this deck back! But now it's better...

Commander:
1 Pashalik Mons

1 Abrade
1 Aether Vial
1 Arid Mesa
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Braid of Fire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Chain Lightning
1 Chaos Warp
1 Conspicuous Snoop
1 Dark-Dweller Oracle
1 Den of the Bugbear
1 Dockside Extortionist
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Ember Hauler
1 Embercleave
1 Fabled Passage
1 Faithless Looting
1 Gamble
1 Gauntlet of Might
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Chirurgeon
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Goblin Grenade
1 Goblin Instigator
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Lackey
1 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Sledder
1 Goblin War Party
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Goblin Warrens
1 Impact Tremors
1 Jeska's Will
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
1 Legion Loyalist
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Echoes
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Mogg Raider
1 Mogg War Marshal
22 Mountain
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mutavault
1 Muxus, Goblin Grandee
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Ruby Medallion
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Tin Street Dodger
1 Torch Courier
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 Warren Instigator
1 Wasteland
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Wooded Foothills

 

[Oversoul]

No, I didn't run out of ideas. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Pashalik Mons is a really cool commander that gets overshadowed by other options for Goblin Tribal. On EDHrec, the top commanders for this tribal theme are...

Krenko, Mob Boss: 5,262 decks
Wort, Boggart Auntie: 699 decks
Muxus, Goblin Grandee: 546 decks
Purphoros, God of the Forge: 418 decks
Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin: 364 decks
Zada, Hedron Grinder: 365 decks
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden: 344 decks
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King: 298 decks
Shattergang Brothers: 229 decks
Pashalik Mons: 120 decks
Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician: 110 decks
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser: 105 decks
Grumgully, the Generous: 100 decks
Wort, the Raidmother: 86 decks
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death: 47 decks

That's insane. Goblins with abilities that are better-suited to non-Tribal decks and commanders that aren't even goblins easily surpass Pashalik Mons.

My 2019 deck was OK, but it was built for the West Coast Commander League and has some weird concessions for that. Despite power creep over the past three years, this deck should hold up much better.

 

[Oversoul]

My trend of lousy games over the past few weeks continues. First attempt for this deck I got manascrewed and fell way behind. Eventually I managed to get Gauntlet of Might out, so I could actually try to do stuff. Everyone else at the table was playing red decks too, so that got me killed in short order. Pulled the deck out later for the final game of the night and it performed better, but my opponents kept killing my stuff. One opponent in particular had a vendetta against me or something and made sure to kill or counter my commander at every turn. I managed to make a lot of goblin tokens with Goblin Warrens and Mana Echoes, but my nontoken goblins were mercilessly picked off. The player with a vendetta against me hit Pashalik Mons with Darksteel Mutation and I'd already used my removal options on the actual threats at the table, so I was stuck. Ordinarily, I might have been able to deal with a Kresh the Bloodbraided deck, but not when an Azorius player is sitting there with the goal of ruining me even if it also gets him killed.

This deck is probably fine, but I had bad breaks in those games.

 

[saprolingtoken]

Just a couple of things I don't see is Beetleback Chief, Brightstone Ritual, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Hobgoblin Bandit Lord, Legion Warboss, Battle Cry Goblin, Torbran, Goblin Moggcatcher, Imperial Recruiter, Mogg Infestation/Blasphemous Act... that's all I could think of off the top of my head. There are also cards like Thousand Year Elixir but those are mostly cards better in Krenko. These are all cards I've played in Krenko (not Pash) before. Recruiter and Moggcatcher are very good. I also like a couple Sweepers like BA/Infestation. I also liked Eldrazi Monument too, especially with enough token generators its not too bad to keep up.

 

[Oversoul]

Yep. A few of those were in the 2019 version and a few more were ones I did use in Canadian Highlander, but cut when I swapped the deck back to EDH. I think Brightstone Ritual was one that I just couldn't find in my collection and I might still have failed to pick up a copy of Legion Warboss, but the others were mostly cards that I cut to make room for enough lands.

 

[saprolingtoken]

Yeah, that makes sense!

 

[Oversoul]

Third time's a charm! My opponents managed to keep Pashalik Mons off the table and thwarted my attempts to set up an engine. I also whiffed on Muxus. So it was looking pretty dicey for a while, but it worked out in the end thanks to good, old-fashioned goblin beatdown. That and Mizzium Mortars.

 

[Ferret]

Have you tried adding Blood Moon to the deck? Back in the day, that used to be the ultimate killer when I got my Goblin King out...

 

[Oversoul]

I've done Blood Moon in Goblins decks before. This one would have to be reworked for it, as I use my nonbasics. Fetchlands synergize with Conspicuous Snoop. Den of the Bugbear won me my last game with this deck. Etcetera.

Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon used to be in my Canadian Highlander Goblins deck.

 

[Oversoul]

Took this one apart for now. I have my misgivings because I really like the deck and wanted to get more games in with it. But it has proven itself reasonably well and some of my other decks haven't gotten time to shine. I was able to use the parts to build something I've been hankering to try for the past year or so.

I'll return to Pashalik Mons again at some point. He's too fun not to. If anyone else is brewing EDH decks and wants to try goblins, I think my list is a decent starting point to start taking things your own direction!

 

[Oversoul]

It's not over yet! Dismantling the Tawnos deck, went through the cards for this one to see how far I was from being able to put it back together. I had to poach Jeska's Will, Mana Crypt, and Phyrexian Altar from my Cormela deck, but three cards seems a reasonable amount to swap between the two decks for now, depending on which one I'm playing. Will my goblins get to play at least one more game before I take the deck apart again? Almost certainly. To keep up my rigorous deckbuilding schedule, I still need to build another deck before Wednesday. In the meantime, Pashalik Mons is back.

 

[Oversoul]

My last couple of games with this one have been good. Overall, my biggest note for future tweaks is that the deck just isn't consistent enough. When it all comes together, it works really well. But there's also a tendency to get stuck in topdeck mode. It's not the worst, but I want to address the deficiency at some point.

Also, Goblin Chirurgeon is amazing.

 

[Oversoul]

Played this one yesterday for my last game of the night. I kept a one-land hand because it had Goblin Lackey and Mana Crypt. That paid off, as I ended up getting Goblin Warchief and Krenko, Mob Boss both out on turn 2. Krenko's tokens flooded the board and won the game. I had some preparations for backing the straightforward "attack with 1/1 goblins" plan with stuff like Pashalik Mons and Thornbite Staff, but the tokens mostly just got the job done on their own.

 

[Oversoul]

All hail Goblin King! Mountainwalk let Warren Instigator get past blockers, which pushed out more goblins. I briefly hit a snag, but Skullclamp on a couple of tokens from Dragon Fodder did the trick. Also, Goblin Sledder saved most of my team from global -3/-3.

 

[Oversoul]

And the thunderhead is back! I had time to build one last EDH deck for 2024.

Commander:
1 Pashalik Mons

1 Aether Vial
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Beetleback Chief
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Braid of Fire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Chaos Warp
1 City on Fire
1 Conspicuous Snoop
1 Dark-Dweller Oracle
1 Den of the Bugbear
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Ember Hauler
1 Embercleave
1 Fabled Passage
1 Faithless Looting
1 Fountainport
1 Gamble
1 Gauntlet of Might
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Goblin Burrows
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Chirurgeon
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Goblin Instigator
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Lackey
1 Goblin Lookout
1 Goblin Marshal
1 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Trashmaster
1 Goblin War Party
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Goblin Warrens
1 Jeska's Will
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
1 Legion Loyalist
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Echoes
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Mogg Raider
1 Mogg War Marshal
20 Mountain
1 Mutavault
1 Muxus, Goblin Grandee
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Pyre of Heroes
1 Ruby Medallion
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Searslicer Goblin
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Skullclamp
1 Strip Mine
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Three Tree City
1 Tin Street Dodger
1 Torch Courier
1 Urza's Saga
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 Warren Instigator
1 Wasteland
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Wooded Foothills

 

[Oversoul]

Well, I played this deck multiple times on Friday. I know that I ran it for my first game of the day and for my last, and I think there were a couple more in there as well. I wanted to get data. Mostly, I think the deck is fine, but it was badly outmatched by the high-powered crap at that LGS. Since New Year's Day is on Wednesday, I won't get to try it at the other store for a while. Oh well. I did have one game that ended up being pretty close because the player who dominated it only left one blocker. If I'd had a bit more mana to activate Pashalik Mons one more time, I could have killed him.

 

[Oversoul]

This deck actually won a game! How? Well, one of my opponents was totaly manascrewed and the other as playing a five-color deck and got colorscrewed. My goblins wasted no time attacking both.